Two for the Price of One

One of my guilds is having a challenge due at the end of the month to use one of these black and white fabrics, and the other guild is having a challenge due in July to make something black and white and one color. So here is a two-fer. He's cute, although I would make some slightly different fabric choices if I did it again. He will definitely have to have bobbin work whiskers, and maybe button eyes, although I'm not sure of that. I'm still debating the border design. It's sort of a second choice design anyway, because I'm short of fabric. I'm thinking about making opposite corners the same dark or light value, and putting a point at the break to echo the triangular pieces in the cat's tail. There will also be a point in the cornerstone block where the contrasting strips appear to cross. The cat pattern is designed by Janine Holzman and was in a 2006 QNM that I stumbled across while straightening things. I made just one block and am doing my own border design.

Paper piecing is one of the first techniques I used when I started quilting again about 7 years ago, and it's one of my least favorite things. In a great example of synchronicity, we had an excellent program about it at guild right before I came across this pattern, and I decided to give it a shot. This went together very well. One thing I learned, partly from the guild demo and partly from my own adaptation, is to use a Hera marker. I used the flat side to gently press a seam after stitching, and then used the point to lightly score the seam line on the next piece. Then I folded the paper back on the scored line, and used a ruler and rotary cutter to trim the excess fabric to an exact 1/4 inch seam. This makes it easier to place the next piece, and also makes the paper easier to tear away. This probably isn't new to people who do lots of paper piecing, but I felt like it was a real breakthrough. I still won't be a paper piecing convert though; I'd rather handle fabric than paper.